These freezer sandwich ideas for lunch are sure to help make packing lunches less stressful for you and your kids! Give them a try and you won't be sorry!
Have you ever heard of Uncrustables? You know, the frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that don't have any crust? I made up freezer pb&j sandwiches before those other sandwiches were a thing and they have been SAVING MY LIFE for the past few years so I had to share!
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My kids are obsessed with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and ask for them every. dang. day. They always want them in their school lunches. Heck, my kids who aren't in school yet still love to eat them at home or on-the-go. Rather than trying to find the time on a busy school morning to make up enough sandwiches for everyone, I finally wised up and came up with…
FREEZER SANDWICH IDEAS FOR LUNCH
This will save you so. much. time. and will save your sanity, too! They're a great kids' lunch meal prep hack, too. Freezer sandwiches are even good for when you need an on-the-go lunch for your kids (or yourself?!) for those times that you're trying to wrangle 50 kids, 211 water bottles and 500 bags (okay, okay, I'm exaggerating juuuuust a little bit, but that's what it feels like sometimes!) out the door to get where you're trying to go on time.
Enter the freezer sandwiches. Pack them in your kids' lunchbox and they'll be thawed by the time lunch rolls around! You take a little bit of time to make them over the weekend and then easily grab them out of the freezer whenever you need them.
TYPES OF SANDWICHES
Most of my kids love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But I do have a few who sometimes prefer peanut butter and honey sandwiches if the wind is blowing a certain direction. I like to prepare both types of sandwiches so that we always have some of both on hand. (I also like to keep freezer meat and cheese sandwiches on hand for when they're wanting something different.)
HOW TO MAKE FREEZER PB&J SANDWICHES
First things, first — you need to gather your ingredients! The best part about this hack is I bet you have everything you need just waiting in your pantry!
- Sandwich Bread
- Peanut Butter
- Jam/Jelly OR Honey
- Sandwich-Size Plastic Bags
Stay with me, this is reeeeeeally complicated (snicker).
PUT TOGETHER A WEEKS' WORTH OF SANDWICHES
Get an entire loaf of bread, lay it out in a line, estimate how many sandwiches you will need for the week and go nuts! Get your kids involved and have them help! Sure, it might get messy. But it's more about empowering them, teaching them skills so they can make their own lunches, and creating memories together. We do this each Sunday and it's a fun Sunday family tradition.
Tip: we like to put peanut butter on both sides of the bread; partly because it helps keep the bread nice and soft, and also, because…well…it's peanut butter. And I could swim in that stuff.
Want to take your sandwiches up a notch and make them fun? Grab some cute sandwich cutters and cut them into some super fun shapes before you freeze them! Your kids will love the surprise in their lunchbox!
FREEZE YOUR SANDWICHES
Stick your sandwiches in individual baggies, making sure that you get as much air out as possible. We put our individual baggies into a freezer bag to make sure that they stay extra fresh. Then pop those babies in the freezer!
Then, on a busy school morning, grab as many sandwiches as you need, and run out the door! They will be thawed and perfect by lunchtime.
Honestly, you are going to love having a stash of these in your freezer. Such a simple idea but really will help save you so much time and money over time. What are your favorite sandwich ideas for lunch for you OR your kids? Leave a comment below and share!
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Happy lunching!
Make sure that you check out these other posts!
- Get my best snack and lunch ideas!
- Check out my pantry organization.
- Get my best back to school organization tips!
Yes! This is such a good idea. You definitely get a big pat on the back from this mom 🙂
Haha I’ll take it! 🙂
My husband packs cold lunch everyday and I have done both pbjs and meat and cheese sandwiches and they freeze great!:) I found some mini mayo and mustard squueze bottles that I fill for the lunch box. Also have done homemade pizza pockets with pizza fillings, or beef and cheddar:) Deff. need to b doing this again!:)
You bake the pizza pockets first, then freeze them?? GENIUS! I want to try this, thanks for sharing!
I love making ham and cheese pinwheels (http://jamiecooksitup.net/2012/02/hot-ham-and-cheese-pinwheels/). I double the recipe and have them in the fridge ready to be thrown in with the rest of the lunch stuff. Another easy Sunday tradition.
Totally trying this! Such a great idea, thanks for sharing!
Yes, I do this for hiking and outdoors activities. The meat stays cold enough from being frozen and it’s thawed by lunch.
Awesome!! So excited to try it! XO
This is perfect for those loaves of bread that are nearing the stale state! I have an always hungry teenage boy and this will be perfect! Thank you, you always come through for us Jordan!
Great idea, Jordan! Simple, yet I can see how this would be sooo helpful! I’m often scrambling to make my son’s lunch in the morning, and I know next year with a first grader AND a kindergartner (hold me), I will need all the lunch hacks I can get.
I will take sanity in nearly any way possible. XO
Perfect timing, Kroger just had a 99 cent sale on their Nature’s Own wheat bread! I’ve been looking at freezer meals/snacks since I have a baby due in April too. Anything to make food a little easier around the house for the first few months! Plus, who wouldn’t love a PBJ in the middle of the night during a feeding session lol
We make our own uncrustables using the pampered chef ravioli cutter and freeze them. Stick it to the man!
What an awesome idea. We eat dinner 4 of 5 nights on the go because we are at baseball and t-ball games. This will keep us from horrible concession stand food and 8pm fast food runs. I would really love to know how the other sandwiches faired being frozen for I am sure we will get tired of PB&J by the end of the summer.
My mom was so ahead of her time. My sister and I made a gazillion sandwiches for my dad’s lunch and my mom froze them…4 decades ago. There’s probably still sandwiches in the freezer.
I need to try this. I have heard about it now several times but have not tried it. Note to self – freeze PBJ sandwiches.
My kids seem to prefer hot foods more. I don’t know maybe, I can bulk cook and freeze them so I just have become lazy in giving them choices? I need to test the theory more. My twins are 6, almost 1st graders. Need more ideas. So far, I do make Mac and cheese (from the box) but, I add cooked ground beef when you add the cheese mixture to it for protein. You can use any ground meet. I prefer beef. I add some more cheese to give it a little more cheese to it as once you add the meat the cheese is not enough. They also like meatballs and rice/pasta. Recently, they like the onion pierogi so I will add that to the lunch rotation. So all the hot food is basically precooked/portioned for that day to just heat and put in their thermos. We don’t have a bunch of time in the morning as we both work and are on the clock. So, stuff like this saves time. PBJ, I usually make it the night before. But, your idea is even better.
Freeze individual portions of leftovers in tupperware! Just pull out and microwave, like you would a store-bought freezer meal.
I do this as well! I use my hostess uncrustable sandwich maker and then wrap them in tin foil – I buy the bulk tin foil sheets at Sam’s club and wrap them up in those. I found that it’s more air tight doing it that way vs. sandwich bags. My kids love them and its SUCH a hug time saver for packing lunches!
First things first Jordan… I made your fool proof bread oh my gosh… It was fabulous! My husband said it’s the best bread I ever made him course I haven’t made bread since we got married 44 years ago. I made a few loaves every week for the first year we were married then we moved and yada yada and I got a breadmaker and I really don’t like it so I made your kind in the pan it was perfect. Second of all yes we’ve made ham and cheese sandwiches For the freezer. We use the lunchmeat more because the Krakus ham that you buy at the deli that particular ham gets kind of watery when it thaws out so we buy like the ham and cheese loaf or we get the spiced ham because it doesn’t leave as much water when it thaws and then you can just add whatever kind of cheese you want with it. Then you can make some snack bags with lettuce and tomatoes then if you want. Then don’t forget frozen homemade chocolate chip cookies or cupcakes. Hope this helps! Love you guys 🙂
What?!?! You can freeze your own pb&j? Score!!
New at this lunch making thing. This is an awesome idea that I hadn’t thought of!!
Can’t wait to try this out!
this is brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! And the jam in the good processor! Ah! That’s perfect! Thanks!
This would be great if my son could bring PB to school. I’ll try Sunflower Butter and see how it works!
Wondering what alternatives there would be for the plastic baggies? Do you reuse your baggies?
These are on the grocery list! I did the ham sandwich ones 2 weeks ago and they were a big hit with the kids !
Peanut butter on both sides is the trick I didn’t know I needed! Keeps the jelly from soaking through!
I absolutely love this time saving tip!! I use it all the time now and it saves me so much time when I pack lunches in the morning!! Thank you!!
Hmm, so my son is not allowed to have peanut butter in his school due to allergies so I just make jelly sandwiches – they never ‘unthaw’ by lunch though as he has lunch around 11am! So I just make a weeks worth and keep it in the fridge. Same concept I think and it is so easy in the morning. We use plastic bags and while I hate it, my son returns them and I rinse them out and reuse.
Love this idea, but have a question. I’ve made my daughter’s pb&j the night before, and I know to put pb on both sides of the bread to keep the jelly from bleeding through and making the bread nasty, but will freezing it not make the bread mushy when dethawing? I’ve tried freezing bread and every time I would pull it out to use it, it would turn into mush. What am I doing wrong? Any answers would be greatly appreciated!
Bread must be fresh when it’s frozen, and ideally frozen quickly and kept at 0°F (-18°C) or below. I don’t let it thaw in plastic, as it can make it soggy with freezer drip/condensation; I just thaw it on the plate, but I think a lunchbox would work too. We live half an hours drive from a bakery so I freeze all our bread and just take out slices as I want them. No waste, no stale bread.
tuna with mayonnaise is my kids favorite sandwich
Peanut butter, honey, banana and jelly on wide-pan whole wheat bread. This was my favorite homemade lunch to take to work before Coughy Boi arrived on our shores. It’s also my favorite mid-workout fuel source/post-workout recovery meal for rollerblading, my main means of intense exercise.
Place a layer of honey between two layers of peanut butter on one slice of bread, top with banana slices, spread jelly on another slice of bread, put them together, and you have the makings of the absolute best homemade sandwich that you have ever sunk your teeth into.
I’m eating one right now, and it’s so good.
Thank you so much for sharing this!
Sooooo…. I used to buy Uncrustables for my son, who is now in middle school and WAAAYYYY too cool for such things. I have wanted to buy them for my 7 year old daughter, but she doesn’t like jelly (who doesn’t like jelly!?!). I admittedly didn’t think about making them myself!!! I feel so silly for never thinking of this!!! You have just changed my life! Thank you!